Journal of Ecology and Rural Environment ›› 2016, Vol. 32 ›› Issue (3): 478-485.doi: 10.11934/j.issn.1673-4831.2016.03.022

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Heavy Metal Content in Vegetable and Its Health Risk as Affected by Mining Activities in Nandan County

LU Su-fen, SONG Bo, FU Feng-yan, YU Yuan-yuan, ZHU Nan, ZHONG Xue-mei   

  1. College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin 541004, China
  • Received:2015-07-01 Online:2016-05-25 Published:2016-05-27

Abstract:

In order to evaluate health risk of the exposure of typical local inhabitants of Nandan to heavy metals via consumption of vegetable, impacts of mining activities on content of heavy metals in soil and vegetable in Dachang, Chehe, and Changlao and in Liuzhai as check were investigated. Through a consecutive 3-day household diet survey, the data of vegetable consumption rate were obtained. And at the same time, soil samples from 37 vegetable fields and 166 vegetable samples were collected for analysis of contents of As, Pb, Cd, Cu, Zn and Sb. In addition, the potential health risk of the exposure of local people to heavy metals via consumption of the vegetable was assessed using the pollution index method and the data of intake of heavy metals. Results show that in terms of concentration of heavy metals in the soils and vegetables, the four sites followed a decreasing order of Dachang > Chehe > Zhanglao > Liuzhai; the vegetables produced in mining-affected areas had about 5.60%, 71.1% and 32.3% exceeding the criteria for As, Pb and Cd set, respectively, in the national standard for food safety while the vegetable produced in Liuzhai had 57.1% and 37.5%, exceeding the criteria for Pb and Cd, respectively; the adult inhabitants in Dachang and Chehe took in much more As, Pb, Cd, Cu, Zn and Sb via consumption of vegetables than those in Liuzhai did daily. The target hazard quotients (THQ) of As, Pb, Cd and Sb in vegetable were all higher than that of Cu and Zn in the four areas, and the target cancer risk (TR) of As in vegetable to individual human health reached 10.64×10-5 and 10.20×10-5a-1, respectively, in Dachang and Chehe, significantly higher than the criteria set in the standard (i.e. 10-6-10-4) of United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and the standard (i.e. 5×10-5) of International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP), which indicates that Pb and Cd are the major heavy metal elements posing health risks to health of the inhabitants in the mining area and that the inhabitants in mining concentrated areas are facing severe risks of exposure to heavy metals.

Key words: mining area, heavy metal, vegetable, health risk, Nandan County

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